Subject: IWG Arizona Star Boy Scouts/Church/State/Diversity
From: Interfaith Working Group <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Apr 1998 23:47:27 -0400 (EDT)

The following went out on IWG letterhead listing 12 congregations and
organizations and 56 clergy from 15 religious traditions. If you are in 
the general Philadelphia area and represent a congregation or religious 
organization or are clergy, let us know if you want to be added - all faiths 
are welcome. We will also be happy to help start similar organizations in 
other areas.

April 17, 1998

Arizona Daily Star
PO Box 26887
Tucson, AZ  85726

Dear Editors:

Tedd Bell's April 13 letter about the Boy Scouts and
the value of morality in America missed the mark. 
Religion and a sense of morality are of great
importance in the life and history of this country, but
we are a religiously free country; we are all free to
believe as we see fit, and to develop our own
understanding of moral behavior.  The framers of the
Constitution were a religiously diverse group unified
in their desire for a just form of government.  As the
United States has grown we have become more just, and
more religiously diverse.  Today there are many people
of faith with a strong sense of morals and ethics who
see no difference between same-gender and mixed-gender
relationships.  A private religious organization
certainly is entitled to its own religious beliefs, but
that doesn't excuse them from criticism for taking a
very specific religious stand, in contrast to the
merely general religious nature of their oaths and
public image. The Boy Scouts need to decide whether
they are a private religious organization, or a general
welfare organization that deserves the support of
government agencies.

Sincerely,
Barbara Purdom     Christopher Purdom
Interfaith Working Group Coordinators

-- 

Interfaith Working Group                Religious organizations, congregations
[email-masked]                      and clergy supporting gay rights,
http://www.libertynet.org/iwg/          reproductive freedom, and the 
215-235-3050                            separation of church and state.